The Twins on 'WandaVision' Could Have a Massive MCU Impact
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After the events of Avengers: Endgame—the death of the team’s inaugural hero, the retirement of its captain—Marvel (hopefully) punctuated its Avengers with a full stop, making room for a new group of heroes and actors to carry on the multi-billion-dollar mission of team Disney.
This next era—“Phase Four”—opens with familiar characters. Black Widow, scheduled to be the first production before the world thwarted its plans, will now come after WandaVision, which finds Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) following the events of Endgame. In episode 3, however, viewers got their first preview of the new guard of Marvel heroes in the form of twins Billy and Tommy Maximoff, born nine months premature to Wanda and Vision.
Billy and Tommy will inevitably play a role in Marvel’s Phase Four, the two characters part of the Young Avengers. They will grow up (probably very quickly) to be Wiccan and Speed.
If the Marvel productions follow the comics, Wiccan and Speed will soon be joined by Kate Bishop, who takes her superhero moniker from Clint Barton, Hawkeye. New Hawkeye will be played by Hailee Steinfeld and will appear in the Disney+ series, Hawkeye, releasing later this year.
Both of these Marvel Disney+ series are, therefore, setting up a future ensemble project. Young Avengers assemble? (It remains to see how Marvel's other 2021 offerings on Disney+, Loki and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier tie into the future.)
But who are these first two members we’ve met?
Who are Wiccan and Speed?
Their powers are implied by their names. Born of Wanda (Scarlet Witch) and Vision—well, okay, kind of born from them, but we’ll get to that—the siblings each possess a collage of abilities taken from previous heroes.
Wiccan (William “Billy” Kaplan) has abilities similar to Wanda. His magic allows him to warp reality and use mind control. Thomas "Tommy" Shepherd deploys supersonic speed (much like Wanda’s twin brother, Pietro Maximoff, “Quicksilver.”)
Episode 5 might be changing the story from the comics.
In the comics, Billy and Tommy only learn in their teenage years that they are the progeny of Wanda and Vision. The two grew up apart, a fate portending more tragedy in WandaVision.
Again, following the comics, Wanda had given birth to twin sons using energy that was then reabsorbed, ending the twins' existence; they died. (Poor Wanda. Will the death and trauma ever end?) Wiccan and Speed are, therefore, reincarnations of Billy and Tommy, not the original twins born directly to Wanda and Vision.
In episode 5 of WandaVision, however, we see Billy and Tommy (each wearing the respective colors of Wiccan and Speed) begin using their powers. They age from infants to five-year-old kids to then ten-year-old kids. Since these changes (including the appearance of a dog) don’t seem to be Wanda’s doing, it’s clear the twins we’re seeing in WandaVision are Wiccan and Speed; we’re skipping the whole reincarnation thing.
As to whether the twins are real—that question was answered at SWORD in episode five. Monica explains that “Wanda’s twins are hers.” They haven’t been mind-control hijacked like the other townsfolk. They are new, real, corporeal creations of Wanda’s doing. They are, without a doubt, the Young Avengers.
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